Ash's Infernape/Anime/Personality and characteristics
As a Chimchar, Infernape suffered from extremely low self-esteem due to Paul's constant scolding and harsh treatment, making Chimchar fear Paul to some extent, always feeling fear and anxiety whenever it believed Paul would punish it by not living to its Trainer's expectations. This was also briefly extended towards , as when Chimchar heard Ash yell out to it, Chimchar froze in fear, believing that Ash would punish it, but was greatly surprised to find out that Ash's yelling was out of concern rather than anger. Nonetheless, Chimchar was always a sweet and kindhearted Pokémon, although it was forced to suppress and hide these emotions around Paul, as whenever Chimchar showed any emotion other than anger and ferocity, it was scolded or reprimanded by Paul. Despite this, Chimchar always did its best to please Paul, and even after all its mistreatment, Chimchar, after being released by Paul, pleaded for him to change his mind, albeit unsuccessfully. After being taken in by Ash, Chimchar had difficulty blending in with his new Trainer's atmosphere, as Chimchar realized that unlike Paul, his new Trainer and fellow Pokémon were always happy and always helped each other, and rarely showed any signs of hostility amongst themselves. When Ash urged Chimchar to unleash all of its suppressed feelings, Chimchar cried its heart out while being held in Ash's arms, being overwhelmed with joy at finally being treated with love, care and respect, and not having to suffer from mistreatment again. Since then, Chimchar's strength slowly began to increase, something that Paul always tried, but was never able to do. Reggie speculated that Paul's training methods weren't suited for Chimchar, but Ash's worked perfectly, and Chimchar quickly became one of Ash's most used and powerful Pokémon in Sinnoh. However, whenever Infernape activated its Ability, its personality suffered a drastic change; it went completely berserk, attacking anyone and anything that stood in its way, friend or foe. Its anger and rage caused Infernape to lose any common sense, such as nearly fatally wounding its own Trainer, and it took Ash a large amount of effort and pain to finally calm Infernape down. However, Infernape ultimately overcame this issue during its battle against Volkner's Luxray, where it managed to listen to Ash's words and remained to retain its common sense while Blaze was activated. After reaching its final evolved stage, Infernape gained an immense amount of fighting spirit, becoming fired up and determined to defeat strong opponents, while also always looking forward to battle an opponent stronger than itself, wanting to surpass its own limits and enhance its skills. Infernape is also incredibly feisty and resilient, being capable of withstand many powerful attacks and still continue battling, even as far as thriving while feeling pain, as Infernape uses the pain and exhaustion to motive itself to continue battling and ultimately achieve victory. As noted by Reggie, Infernape's personality almost completely matches Ash's, which is why they are a perfect match for one another. It still retains some of its childlike personality from when it was a Chimchar, and, like when it was a Chimchar, always takes any advice and motivation it receives, even from its enemies, such as . From the moment they met, Infernape and had an intense rivalry, even from their Chimchar-Elekid days, and when both were under Paul's command, as Elekid, along with Paul, always looked down on Chimchar, thinking of Infernape as inferior than itself, and always felt pleasure whenever it belittled him. Over time, however, Electivire grew to respect Infernape's increasing power, and was glad and amused to see that it had evolved into Monferno during their battle at Lake Acuity, with Infernape also returning the respect towards Electivire. Infernape and Electivire's respect and admiration towards one another reached its peak during their final battle at the Lily of the Valley Conference, when the referee was about to declare Infernape unable to continue, Electivire angrily stopped the referee from ending the battle, knowing that Infernape could still continue, despite the fact that it would mean Paul winning the battle, but it seemed extremely delighted to see Infernape getting back to its feet, wanting to battle him for as long as possible. After Infernape bested Electivire, it was visibly smirking at seeing Infernape on top, and finally viewed Infernape as its equal.